Author: Dan Dickinson

Fare thee well, skanktron

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

My brother Tim and my friend GB — math geeks both — will love this story: people who can’t do math are in charge of Verizon’s billing department (and managing their call centre, it seems).

Verizon: What do you mean .002 dollars?
Client: [big sigh] Okay, I think I have to do this again. Do you recognize that there’s a difference between one dollar and one cent?
Verizon: Definitely.
Client: Do you recognize there’s a difference between half a dollar and half a cent?
Verizon: Definitely
Client: Then, do you therefore recognize there’s a difference between .002 dollars and .002 cents
Verizon: No.
Client: No?

Awesome.

.:.

I can’t wait to see Rona Ambrose debate pollution with these 700 scientists.

.:.

Nicole Richie has been arrested for driving drunk. I think this is unfair; people who only weigh 85 pounds can’t be blamed for their intoxication as they would obviously get drunk smelling a single lite beer from across the room. Not to mention the weed & vicodin she took before driving, the poor dear.

.:.

Speaking of vapid dormice, this Salon article about Paris Hilton is about 12 kinds of funny. When the article starts off,

“For years we’ve been paralyzed in the tractor beam of her brainless celebrity. Now it’s time to kiss the creepy dollie goodbye.”

…you just know it’s gonna be good.

[tags]verizon, math, scientists, pollution, nicole richie, paris hilton[/tags]

Foie gras

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This month’s issue of Toronto Life features a story on foie gras, in which the author Sasha Chapman sees for himself whether the practice of gavage (force-feeding) is cruel, and ponders whether Toronto will ban it as Chicago has, California plans to and New York seems to be considering. It’s a good story, a report on a personal experience, but it doesn’t offer a complete picture of the issue; surely not every producer is as well-run as Aux Champs d’Élisé.

Personally I didn’t eat foie gras, even before I started this going-off-meat plan. I tried it once or twice (and didn’t like it) before I really knew much about how it’s produced. Obviously I feel there’s a moral issue with eating meat, and I feel foie gras production is more cruel than most meat production, but I can’t say how much more cruel exactly. The UK, Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and Israel have all banned the production of foie gras (though you can still buy it there) so this protest obviously isn’t limited to a few humane societies.

If — and it’s a big if — the general public concedes that foie gras production is more cruel than regular meat production, is the difference in cruelty enough to spur a ban on foie gras? Obviously it was in Chicago, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it happen here in Toronto.

[tags]foie gras, chicago, toronto[/tags]

"I'm a normal [ed: extremely hot] person, I'm doing all right."

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My brother has left the dark ages and entered the age of enlightenment. That is, he’s switched from Blogger to WordPress. Go say hi.

.:.

From Yahoo: Kate Winslet slams ‘ultra-thin’ glamorization. Hear, hear. For my part, I encourage more women to look like Kate Winslet.

The three examples the article suggests as poor role models are “Kate Moss, Nicole Richie and Victoria Beckham”; I daresay there are reasons beyond their looks which make them poor role models…

.:.

After leaving the latest season of The Wire sitting on the shelf for several weeks (except the season premiere, which we watched a few weeks back), we’ve been on a tear this weekend. We have just four episodes left…and I think the finale aired tonight.

Dominic West has hardly been on this season; maybe he was busy filming 300.

[tags]blogger, wordpress, kate winslet, the wire, dominic west[/tags]

Making with the festive itties

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We popped ’round to CBGB’s place last night for their xmas party. I think in theory it was a tree-trimming party, but the kids (their nephew & nieces) took care of the heavy lifting, so the rest of us just ate and drank and admired the decorating job. The nerds were well represented; KittenWhiskers was holding it down.

.:.

We didn’t get home that late, but then I spent an hour IMing with two friends, so I didn’t get to sleep ’til after 2. Then the furry agitators woke me up, meowing for food at 6 AM. Nellie got up to feed them, but I never really got back to sleep, so I’m on 4 hours of sleep now. Thankfully I don’t have anything important to do today. I’ve finished reading all the stats I need to read and I’m taking today off before starting the final assignment tomorrow.

[tags]xmas party, fuzzy bastards, sleep deprivation[/tags]

Common sense indeed

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Another pedestrian killed on Toronto streets. It’s getting scarier out there. However, it’s nice to see the police blaming the pedestrians first.

“You have to use common sense,” advised Acting Staff Sgt. Doug Surphlis of Traffic Services. “It is the festive time of year and it is important to think before you cross the road. Also, to the mot orists to be courteous to our pedestrians. Look around as well (and) be careful out there.”

Granted, this last victim was crossing at an unmarked part of the road, but in Scarborough it’s not easy for a senior with a stroller to walk all the way to a proper light.

.:.

Montreal wins (snapping their first two-game winless streak of the season) and Toronto loses (to Boston…again), so balance is restored to the sporting world.

[tags]toronto, pedestrian killed, canadiens, maple leafs[/tags]

I would NOT want to mess with a guy named Mathias Heck

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In general, I think the death penalty’s a bad idea. I believe there are a hundred reasons not to have it. As near as I can tell, there are two common arguments for it:

  • the Bible quote “an eye for an eye” makes it ok;
  • the hope that the death penalty will act as a deterrent, especially to people committing crimes in a similar fashion.

The first argument can be dismissed easily; there are several biblical quotes that would counter the argument, and in any case, the bible doesn’t dictate the law.

The second argument could have merit; I don’t have stats on hand to support or refute it, and am too lazy to look for any. But it passes an initial sniff test, so I’ll bite for the sake of this post.

But how does it apply to this woman who killed her baby by — and I’m not making this up — microwaving it to death? The prosecutor is seeking the death penalty, presumably to remind all those people out there thinking about microwaving their babies to death that it is, in fact, a crime. Look, if you’re so freaking far gone that it seems like a good idea to nuke your infant, do you really think someone’s going to snap out of it just as their finger hovers over the ‘High’ button when they remember the fate of crazy old China Arnold who got the needle as reported in the Plain Dealer last year? I’m guessing not.

Argh.

[tags]death penalty, china arnold[/tags]

"This is Sparta!"

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It really doesn’t matter how many times I watch the trailer for 300 (imdb | official site). I just never get sick of it.

I cannot wait.

[UPDATE] New extended trailer found at The Movie Blog. W00t!

.:.

Still on movie news (though a more different movie it’d be hard to imagine) I watched Dogtown and Z-Boys (imdb | rotten tomatoes). Like Riding Giants, it was a surprisingly entertaining story, considering I have no interest in the subject of skateboarding. It was fascinating to see the history behind moves and a lifestyle we see all the time these days, but which were mainly pioneered by these kids from a shit neighbourhood skating in empty swimming pools.

[tags]300 movie, dogtown, z-boys[/tags]

Underrated films

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I believe these seven films take undeserved abuse. I had a whole other list of criminally unappreciated movies, but that’s different. And much longer. Maybe some day.

Warning: I throw a few plot spoilers in there, so if you see the name of a movie you want to watch but haven’t yet, stop reading.

  • The Blair Witch Project. By now we’ve all seen parodies of the famous scene where Heather whimpers and snots up close, but when I saw this movie — on opening weekend, before all the hype — it scared the crap out of me. It was the only movie to ever do that.
  • The Godfather III. Take Sofia Coppola out of the picture and it’s in the same ballpark as chapters I and II. You can’t fault Pacino — especially in the final scenes — and Andy Garcia was perfect. This isn’t a terrible movie; this is a sub-standard Godfather film, which still puts it in the top 1%.
  • Mission Impossible 3. People jumped on this one because Tom Cruise’s psychosis had come to a boil around the release date, but it was probably the best of the series. The first one was overwrought and boring; the second a little too heavy on style and light on action.
  • Romeo & Juliet. The Baz Luhrmann version took flak because…I dunno, people think it’s only meant to be done in floofy accents period costume, but they forget that Shakespeare was a populist writer. The man was the Stephen King, the Danielle Steele of his day. Luhrmann took a well-crafted, overly-familiar story and turned it on its ear, and it was eye-grabbing and innovative.
  • Signs. People seem to dislike this movie, but I think it was Shyamalan’s best. The complaint I hear the most is about the alien, but for god’s sake, the alien was barely in it. The movie was funny, well-acted, well-paced, tense and told a far better story than the vast majority of movies that offer equal scare potential. Shit, any movie with Mel Gibson running around in the dark yelling, “I’m insane with anger!” is worth watching again.
  • Starship Troopers. Is the acting terrible? No. The acting is putrid. Abhorrent. Unholy, even. But there’s more social satire in there than people remember (though not nearly as much as was in the book) and the special effects still look better than most of what you see today, even though it was made nine years ago.
  • Vanilla Sky. Tom Cruise again…what the? Anyway…I admit, I have a soft spot for Cameron Crowe, but even I didn’t like this one at first. My friend Mike convinced me to give it another try, and the second time through it was like watching a whole other film. Watch it with the director’s commentary.

[tags]underrated movies, blair witch project, godfather, mission impossible, romeo, juliet, signs, starship troopers, vanilla sky[/tags]